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Cryptocurrency Markets Eke Out Gains In A Mixed Week

Going by news headlines, it would seem that the news was all gloom and doom this past week. But that assessment may not be true. As the chart shows, however, the top 10 cryptocurrencies managed to eke out gains even in the face of downward pressure.

Bitcoin flirted with $5,000 territory this past week, when it dropped to $6190 on Tuesday. But the original cryptocurrency recovered from that low and is up by almost 6%. As of this writing, it is trading at $6,535.11, almost unchanged from its price 24 hours ago. Speculation about the role of bitcoin whales and insider trading in its current price slump intensified this week. According to reports, an address associated with a Silk Road-related cryptocurrency wallet became active once again in the last month and has been involved in selling its stash of cryptocurrencies. Silk Road is a dark web marketplace that was taken down by the FBI in 2014. Its founder Ross Ulbricht is still in prison and the Feds have sold bitcoin worth $48 million seized from Silk Road, since its closure.

While EOS recorded the highest gains among cryptocurrencies, ethereum’s ether was the biggest story this week. Its price sank earlier this week after ether shorts reached record highs. Prominent names from the cryptocurrency world made matters worse by implying that it would drop to zero soon. Their criticism spanned multiple facets of the cryptocurrency, from the inflation of its prices by traders who don’t know any better to more fundamental questions regarding the utility of its token. The result was that the cryptocurrency shed its gains from the past month. But it has staged a strong recovery during the latter half of this week; its trading volumes reached record highs and its price is up by almost 12% as of this writing.

Cryptocurrency markets gained 5.4% through the week, from $193 billion at the start of this week to $203 billion, as of this writing.